JP2002240927A - Parts feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a parts feeder which is quiet, has little vibration and eliminates damage and falling of articles. SOLUTION: A fixed type guide plate 10 is overlapped on a side surface of a vibrating type rail 4 for carrier. A hopper 3 is fixed to the guide plate 10. A cut-out 14 is formed at the bottom of the hopper 3 and an elevating/ lowering body 15 is fitted into the cut-out 14. When the elevating/lowering body 15 is raised, a product W is transferred to a carrier path 9 via the guide plate 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parts feeder for transferring articles put into a hopper in a line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A spiral vibration type feeder is generally used as a parts feeder for feeding articles in a line from a disjointed state, as schematically shown in FIG.

That is, the spiral vibration type part feeder A is shaped like a pot that is opened upward so that a large number of articles can be charged therein, and has a rectifying path (shown in the figure) that extends spirally in plan view. Is formed such that the height increases and the width decreases as it goes to the outer periphery, so that the articles are aligned in a line.

[0004] The aligned articles are transferred from the discharge chute B to the transport path C and transported to a subsequent process. In addition,
Although not shown in the figure, various posture aligning means are provided according to the shape of the article to align the posture of the article.

[0005]

However, the vibrating parts feeder A is excellent in the alignment function, but has a large noise because the whole parts feeder A vibrates.
There is a risk of adversely affecting other devices due to vibration,
In the parts feeder A, the articles fall from the straightening path and return to the straightening path to repeat the circulation, so that the articles are easily damaged, so that the vibration is not transmitted to the conveying path C. Since it is necessary to provide a certain gap, in the case of a small article such as a chip-type electronic component, there is a problem that the article may drop from the gap between the discharge chute B and the transport path C or may be clogged in the gap. was there.

In particular, when handling chip-type electronic components such as chip resistors and chip capacitors, the size of these chip-type electronic components has been reduced. Dropping and clogging is a serious problem.

An object of the present invention is to improve such a situation.

[0008]

The above objects can be attained by the present invention.

The parts feeder according to the first aspect of the present invention is a parts feeder having a conveying device having a conveying path in which a number of articles can be arranged in a line, a hopper arranged in close proximity to the conveying path, and a participant in the hopper. An elevating type transfer device capable of lifting an appropriate number of articles and placing the articles on the transport path is provided.

The parts feeder according to the second aspect of the present invention is a more preferable embodiment. In the present invention, the transport device includes a vibration transport type rail (chute) extending linearly, and the rail. A fixed guide plate sandwiched between the one side and the hopper is provided, and a step-shaped transport path capable of transferring articles in a line is formed on one side of the rail, The upper surface of the guide plate is set at substantially the same height as the transport path.

[0011] Further, an elevating body ascending and descending so as to be overlapped with the side surface of the guide plate is disposed as the elevating type transfer device at a position located inside the hopper in plan view, and
The upper surface of the portion of the guide plate that overlaps with the elevating body is formed on an inclined surface that is inclined downward toward the rail transport path,
The upper surface of a portion of the guide plate located in front of the elevating body in the transport direction is formed as an inclined surface inclined downward toward the hopper.

If it is necessary to align the postures of the articles, a posture correcting device may be provided at an appropriate part of the transport device.

[0013]

According to the present invention, the whole parts feeder does not vibrate, and articles are directly transferred to the transport path by reciprocating motion of an elevating type transfer device such as an elevating body. In addition, noise and vibration can be significantly suppressed as compared with the related art.

Further, since the article does not circulate largely inside the hopper, damage to the article can be greatly suppressed. Further, since the articles are directly placed on the transport path of the transport apparatus by the lifting / lowering type transfer apparatus, the articles do not fall out of the parts feeder and there is no need to provide a gap for the articles to be clogged. Therefore, the article is naturally not clogged.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the problem of noise and vibration that the conventional vibrating type part feeder has, as well as the damage, dropping out, and clogging of articles.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since a portion of the elevating body on the upper surface of the guide body is inclined downward toward the conveyance path, many articles can be transferred to the conveyance path. The efficiency of transfer is good.

In addition, since the upper surface of the guide body is inclined obliquely downward toward the inside of the hopper downstream of the elevating body, if the article has an elongated shape, the article crosses the transport path in plan view. If so, the article falls into the hopper downstream from the lift.

That is, according to the structure of the second aspect, the efficiency of alignment of the articles can be improved, and the rectangular articles can be automatically aligned in the posture extending in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, it is particularly useful for aligning and sending rectangular articles.

[0019]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(1) First Embodiment (FIGS. 1 to 6) FIGS. 1 to 6 show a first embodiment.

This embodiment is applied to a parts feeder for aligning and transporting a rectangular parallelepiped chip-type part. FIG. 1 is a right side view, FIG. 2 is a plan view, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a main part, FIG. 5A is a sectional view taken along line VA-VA of FIG. 2, and FIG. 6A is a sectional view taken along line VIA-VIA of FIG.

The parts feeder is provided with a base plate 1, a transporting device 2 capable of transporting the chip-shaped components W in a rectangular parallelepiped in a line, and a hopper 3 capable of receiving a large number of chip-shaped components W.

The transfer device 2 includes a rail (chute) 4 extending linearly, and a substantially middle portion of the rail 4 is attached to the base plate 1 via a two-stage vibrating feeder 5 and a spacer 6. I have. The vibrating feeder 5 includes an inclined leaf spring 7 and a pair of electromagnets 8.
When the electromagnet 8 is turned ON / OFF little by little, vibration in the longitudinal direction is applied to the rail 4.

For example, as can be easily understood from FIG.
A stepped conveyance path 9 having the same width as the width of the chip-type component W is formed over the entire length of one side surface of the rail 4 over the entire length. Therefore, when the electromagnet 8 is turned ON / OFF, the chip-type components W are transported on the transport path 9 in a state of being arranged in a line.

The hopper 3 is disposed at the rear of the rail 4 (on the front side in the conveying direction of the chip-type component W), and between the hopper 3 and the rail 4 overlaps one side of the rail 4. A guide plate (body) 10 is disposed.
The hopper 3 is fixed to the guide plate 10 by welding or the like. (It may be attached to a bracket provided on the base plate 1.)

As can be easily understood from FIGS. 4 and 5,
The guide plate 10 is fixed to a first block 11 disposed below the rail 4 with screws.
Are fastened with screws to a mounting plate 13 fixed to the base plate 1 via a bracket 12. Therefore, the guide plate 10 is of a fixed type.

As can be easily understood from FIGS.
A rectangular notch 14 opening toward the guide plate 10 is formed at a rear portion of the hopper 3.
A plate-like elevating body (slider) 15 is fitted into the body.
The elevating body 15 overlaps the guide plate 10. The hopper 3 is narrowed so as to converge toward the notch 14.

A second block 16 is fixed to the lower part of the elevating body 15 by screws or the like, and a vertically long cylinder 17 is fastened to the mounting plate 13 by screws. The second block 16
Are fixed with screws or the like.

Therefore, when the cylinder 17 is driven ON / OFF, the elevating body 15 moves up and down. The cylinder 17
Is not limited to the pneumatic type, and various drive sources such as a hydraulic type and an electromagnetic type can be adopted.

The guide plate 10 is set to be at the same height as the conveying path 9 of the rail 4. In this case, FIG.
As clearly shown in FIG.
The upper surface 10a of the portion located further downstream (for convenience, this is referred to as a first upper surface) 10a is an inclined surface that is inclined obliquely downward toward the hopper 3. On the other hand, the guide plate 10
Of the portion overlapping the lifting body 15 (for convenience, the second
The upper surface 10b is an inclined surface that is inclined obliquely downward toward the transport path 9.

As can be easily understood from FIG.
The upper surface of the elevating body 15 is an inclined surface that is inclined obliquely downward toward the guide plate 10. Further, the transport path 9 is inclined obliquely downward toward the wall surface 9a at the position of the elevating body 15 (may be inclined over the entire length).

The stroke of the slide head 18 in the cylinder 17 is set so that the elevating body 15 moves up and down from the bottom surface of the hopper 3 to the same plane as the upper surface of the guide plate 10. The elevating body 15 is set to a length such that about 20 to 30 chip-type components W can be placed on the upper surface thereof.

As clearly shown in FIG. 3B, the transport path 9
Is set to a depth of about the thickness of the chip-type component W. As shown in FIG. 2, a stopper 19 is provided on the upper surface of the rail 4 to cross the first upper surface 10a of the guide plate 10 in an oblique direction in plan view. The stopper 19 is for removing the chip-shaped component W standing sideways.

It is sufficient to set the depth of the transport path 9 only at the position of the stopper 19 to about the thickness of the chip-type component W. As shown by a two-dot chain line in FIGS. 1 and 2, a fixed amount supply means such as a fixed amount supply tank 20 is provided in the hopper 3,
The chip-type component W inside the hopper 3 may always be a fixed amount.

The portion of the transport path 9 downstream of the hopper 3 may be formed in a groove shape (gutter shape) or a tunnel shape.

In the above configuration, when the cylinder 17 is driven at appropriate intervals while driving the transfer device 2,
As shown in FIGS. 6 (B) and 6 (C), the chip-type components W accumulated in the hopper 3 are intermittently lifted by the elevating body 15 and re-placed on the transport path 9 of the rail 4 via the guide plate 10. . In this case, since the second upper surface 10 b of the guide plate 10 is inclined toward the transport path 9, many chip-type components W are replaced on the transport path 9 and transported.

The orientation of the chip-type component W placed on the transport path 9 varies and is not constant. However, guide plate 1
0 is inclined downward toward the hopper 3, so that the chip-shaped component W
When it comes to the position of the upper surface 10b, the chip-shaped component W in a posture crossing the transport path 9 loses balance and falls into the hopper 3, and only the chip-type component W in a posture extending parallel to the transport path 9 in plan view. Remains in the transport path.

Then, the chip-type component W standing in the horizontal or vertical direction hits the stopper 19 and falls into the hopper 3 as described above. Accordingly, only the chip-shaped component W lying in a posture extending in the same direction as the transport path 9 is transported.

In the case of a chip-type component having front and back surfaces, such as a chip-type electronic component such as a chip resistor, a sensor such as a photoelectric type and a pneumatic type rejection device are provided on the rail 4 on the downstream side of the stopper 19. What is upside down may be returned to the hopper 3. Although not shown in the drawing, the rail 4
Transport means such as chutes are connected as necessary.

As can be easily understood from the above description,
The chip-type component W is replaced on the transport path 9 by moving the elevating body 15 up and down. Vibration hardly occurs when the elevating body 15 is driven, so that noise and vibration can be suppressed. Further, only a part of the chip-type component W inside the hopper 3 is lifted by the elevating body 15, so that the chip-type component W can be prevented from being damaged.

Furthermore, since the elevating body 15 only moves up and down inside the hopper 3, even a very small chip-type component W can be smoothly aligned without falling off or clogging outside the apparatus. it can. Further, when the length of the elevating body 15 is increased, a large amount of chip-type components W can be lifted at one time, so that the alignment efficiency can be improved.

(2). Other Embodiments (FIGS. 7 and 8) In the above embodiment, a cylinder is used as a driving means of the elevating body. In the first embodiment shown in FIG. A crank mechanism including a disk 22 and a crank arm 23 is used.

On the other hand, in the third embodiment shown in FIG. 7B, a cam mechanism having an eccentric cam 24 is used. Of course, other mechanisms may be used. In the case of FIG. 7B, the elevating body 15 is pulled downward by a spring (not shown).

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment in which the guide plate 10 is not provided.

In the fourth embodiment shown in FIG.
The transport path 9 of the rail 4 directly raises and lowers the elevating body 15 along one side surface of the rail 4 in accordance with the width dimension of the chip-type component W. In this case, when the chip-type component W has a plane posture crossing the transport path 9, the chip-type component falls to the hopper 3 when the elevating body 15 descends.

(B) In the fifth embodiment shown in (C), the portion of the transport path 9 of the rail 4 that overlaps the hopper 3 is set to a size much larger than the width of the chip-type component W, and A second inclined surface 9b which is inclined obliquely downward toward the wall surface 9a is formed in a portion overlapping the body 15, and a portion downstream of the elevating body 15 is inclined obliquely downward toward the hopper 3. A first inclined surface 9c is formed.

It should be noted that only the second inclined surfaces 10b and 9c may be formed regardless of whether or not the guide plate 10 is provided.

(3). Others The present invention can be variously embodied in addition to the above embodiment.

For example, a non-vibrating conveyor such as a belt conveyor may be used as the conveying device in the illustrated embodiment.

The present invention can be applied not only to a part feeder for aligning and transferring chip-type parts, but also to a part feeder for aligning various forms of articles such as bolts, screws, nuts, rivets, and springs.

The design of the transport device, the lifting / lowering transfer device, the guide plate, and the like may be changed according to the shape of the article.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a parts feeder according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of a main part viewed from the back side, and FIG. 3B is a partial perspective view of a rail.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a main part.

5A is a sectional view taken along the line IVA-IVA in FIG. 2, and FIG. 5B is a partially enlarged view.

6A is a sectional view taken along the line VIA-VIA in FIG. 3, and FIGS. 6B and 6C are views showing the operation.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing second and third embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing fourth and fifth embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view of a conventional technique.

[Brief description of reference numerals]

 2 Conveying device 3 Hopper 4 Rail of conveying device 5 Exciting feeder 9 Conveying path 10 Guide plate 14 Notch 15 Lifting body W Article (work)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A transport device having a transport path in which a number of articles can be arranged in a line, a hopper arranged in close proximity to the transport path, and an appropriate number of articles in the hopper being lifted and placed on the transport path. A parts feeder comprising: a replaceable elevating transfer device. 2. The transfer device according to claim 1, further comprising: a vibration-conveying rail (chute) extending linearly; and a fixed guide plate sandwiched between one side of the rail and the hopper. On one side surface of the rail, a step-like transport path capable of transferring articles in a line is formed, and the upper surface of the guide plate is set at substantially the same height as the transport path. In a portion located inside the hopper, a lifting body that rises and falls in a state of overlapping with the side surface of the guide plate is disposed as the lifting and lowering transfer device, and a portion of the guide plate that overlaps with the lifting body The upper surface of the guide plate is formed on a slope inclined downward toward the rail transport path, and the upper surface of the portion of the guide plate located in front of the elevating body in the transport direction is formed on an inclined surface inclined downward toward the hopper. Claim 1 Parts feeder described.